Harshal Patel explained how Virat Kohli never gets caught in the trap of his slower balls.
Indian pacer Harshal Patel opened up about his bowling plans for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022, starting on October 16 in Australia. Team India will kick off its T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against the arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23 at the MCG.
Harshal is a dangerous bowler with few varieties of the slower ball, and he is known to often outfox batters with his change in pace. Well, he is the key part of India’s fast-bowling department, and ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022, the pacer spoke about his variations, strength, and strategy for the batters in Australia.
Speaking on The Cricket Monthly on ESPNCricinfo, Harshal Patel said: “I have two. Both are off-cutters. The difference is whether I want to use the pitch, whether the pitch allows me natural variation, or not. If I don't want to use the pitch, then I try and bowl it from the front of the hand because it allows me that topspin.”
He continued, “So, it works on better pitches with better bounce, where even if you fail to deceive the batter in the air, sometimes what happens is, it sort of just kicks enough on you [as a batter] and that doesn't allow you to get timing and trajectory in the shot - it goes higher rather than flatter.”
Meanwhile, Harshal revealed that he plans slower balls according to the venue, conditions such as dew, and more importantly, the batter. He further admitted the slower delivery is not useful if the batter won’t fall prey to it, like India’s batting superstar Virat Kohli.
He further explained, “To Virat, for sure, because he is not someone who's going to muscle you. These slower deliveries are more effective when people are trying to muscle you. For someone like Virat, whenever I've played against him, he steps out and makes it a full toss and plays it through midwicket.”
Harshal signed off by saying, “If he gets good bat on the ball, he is going to get a boundary between long-on and midwicket or he is going to get a double. And when someone plays that delivery like that, you have to adapt. But when someone is going deep in the crease and just trying to slog you over long-on or deep midwicket or down the ground, that's where the slower ball becomes much more effective.”